Enrique Vila - Matas

Enrique Vila-Matas (Barcelona, 1948) boasts an extensive and highly esteemed body of literary work, establishing him as one of the leading European authors of his generation. He studied law and journalism in his homeland and began writing film critiques for the magazine "Fotogramas" in 1968. In 1970, he directed two short films, "Todos los jóvenes tristes" and "Fin de verano." The following year, during his military service in Melilla, Africa, he started writing his first novel, "Mujer en el espejo contemplando el paisaje," characterized by an unconventional writing style (almost devoid of punctuation). Upon returning to Barcelona, he worked as a film critic for the magazines "Bocaccio" and "Destino." Between 1974 and 1976, he lived in Paris in an apartment rented from Marguerite Duras, where he began his second novel, "La asesina ilustrada" (loosely translated as "The Learned Assassin," 1977). This was followed by the novels "Al sur de los párpados," 1980, and "Nunca voy al cine," 1982. He gained critical and public attention with his fifth novel, "Historia abreviada de la literatura portátil" ("A Brief History of Portable Literature," 1985). Subsequent works include the short story collections "A House for Always" (1988), "Exemplary Suicides" (1991), "Children Without Children" (1993), and the novels "Far from Veracruz" (1995), "A Curious Way of Life" (1997), among others. In Greece, some of his most significant books have been published: "The Vertical Journey" (2000), which received the Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize, the most prestigious award in Latin America, "Bartleby & Co." (2001), "Montano's Malady" (2002), which won the Heralde Prize, the National Critics Prize, and the Prix Médicis Étranger, "Paris Never Ends" (2003), "Doctor Pasavento" (2005), and "Dublinesque" (2010). He has also published novels such as "Exploradores del abismo," 2007, "Dietario voluble," 2008, "Air of Dylan," 2012, as well as collections of his journalistic articles and literary essays: "El viajero más lento" ("The Slowest Traveler," 1992), "El traje de los domingos" ("The Sunday Suit," 1995), "Para acabar con los números redondos" ("To End with Round Numbers," 1997), among others.